


"i can't keep kissing strangers and pretending that they're you"

by pastisregret



Series: ask and answer [10]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-07-24 02:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastisregret/pseuds/pastisregret
Summary: dialogue prompt: "i can't keep kissing strangers and pretending that they're you."(first chapter is ladrien, second is marichat)





	1. ladrien

“I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you,” Adrien says, voice low as he parts from her embrace. He can’t help it from being said, too close for far too long without letting his thoughts release. Adrien looks down at Ladybug, waiting for her response.

It’s silent. Too silent, he thinks, hands falling down to rest at her waist. He feels the suit’s fabric press against him, hands turning clammy as she gazes up at him. It’s been so long since he held her in her hands, the past year a constant journey to different fashion shows and photo shoots and interviews in different corners of the world, none of them anywhere close to where he wanted to be, or who he wanted to be with. Adrien had tried to fill the void with the ever-flowing wave of models that surrounded his life but found it pointless, every kiss just a reminder of who he truly desired for. And now, just being in the presence of his Lady turned his mind fuzzy, melting and bent on just pleasing her.

Adrien feels his breath hitch when Ladybug stands on her toes and leans in, just barely touching his lips. She blinks, her eyelashes so close they brush against his skin, a tinkle that turns into a tingle that turns into warmth, spreading throughout his body.

“Who says you have to anymore?” she asks, her lips moving against his with every word. “I’m right here.”

With his next intake of breath, Adrien pulls her close, all spaces, and gaps between the two filled in, bodies pressed against one another. There’s nothing left to be said, and all the more to be done instead.


	2. marichat

“I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you,” Marinette tells him. It’s hot outside, and by the sounds of music playing down the street, it seems lively all around, but the atmosphere between the two is none of the sort. It’s cold and tense, and every second spent waiting for Chat Noir’s response is another second she feels her hopes fall.

“Marinette, I…” he manages to start with, and Marinette can’t stand to face him any longer, turning her body around.

“No, forget it Chat,” Marinette says, looking down at her feet. “Just, forget it.”

Getting off the railing, he reaches a hand out to Marinette but stops, unsure if that’s what she wants or needs right now. Struggling for words, Adrien picks one thing to ask.

“You… You’ve kissed strangers?” he chooses to question, wondering when that could’ve happened. Nino had told him Marinette went on a few dates recently, but he hadn’t really thought about it, too busy trying to connect the dots of his Lady and his Princess, too busy waiting for the clues to fall into place he hadn’t realized what was truly going on around him.

“Well, only two,” Marinette says, voice low. “Only, they weren’t strangers, not really. They were friends. Good friends. But I just needed to try and get it all out, before I got too frustrated.”

“Get out _what_?” Adrien asks. He feels his heart beating wildly, but still can’t comprehend what she’s saying, what she’s meaning. Hope soaring in his chest, he wonders if it’s what he really wants to hear, the three words he’s spent so long dreaming about.

Marinette ignores him. “I thought that if maybe I had someone else, it’d be different. But it wasn’t. I just kept thinking about… _you_.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I… I tried everything I could to get you out of my head and ignore all of this. Nothing worked. _Nothing_ , Chat.” A hand flies up to touch her face, and Adrien hopes it’s not to stop any tears. God, he wished Marinette would turn around so he could see her face, see _her_. He could cool all her emotions and her ramblings and declarations in just an instant if Marinette gave him the chance.

“Why are you telling me all this?” he asks, trying to get her attention. And, he does. Turning around, Marinette finally looks at him.

“Because I like you, you _dummy_ ,” she says, incredulous. “I like you. A lot. Too much.”

“Marinette, I- “ Chat’s trying to near her, but she holds a hand out and stops him in his tracks before he continues.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same,” Marinette begins, gearing up for his rejection, “You’re into Ladybug, and that’s fine, and I know it’s pointless even saying this, but I just wanted to tell you as _me_ you know, and to just let you know how _I_ felt, and- “

He reaches her before she can finish, hands coming to her shoulders and pulling her into a kiss. Marinette’s frozen in shock, too stunned by the action to respond back. Her eyes open, Marinette sees just how intense Chat’s eyes are closed shut, mask crinkling around the corner of his eyes. She sees the curls on his forehead and feels the all too familiar touch of his lips. Eyes finally closing, she finally relaxes into it, rising on her tiptoes to meet him. She brings a hand up to pull him more down, intent on enjoying this as long as she could.

“What’d you do that for?” she asks him when they’ve pulled away and she’s got the air back into her lungs. “I mean, the way you feel about Ladybug… I…”

“Marinette. I know,” he says, hand coming up to nestle in her hair.

“Know what?” she asks, furrowing her brow. “Know how you feel about Ladybug, or- “

“I know there’s not much difference between how I feel about Ladybug and you.”

Marinette widens her eyes, gazing at Chat Noir more intensely. “Chat, what are you talking about?”

Adrien takes a deep breath. He hadn’t expected or planned to reveal the fact he knew like this or his true feelings, but felt that the time had come where all plans were thrown out the window. He felt like it was now or never, his one shot at saying what he really wanted. And so, Adrien threw caution to the wind and said,

“Marinette, I know you’re Ladybug.”

She gasps, her mouth switching between open and closed while she looked at Chat. Marinette struggled to find the words summarize what was going through her mind, before finally settling on a simple, “How?”

“How couldn’t I? It became too obvious to ignore after a while,” Chat tells her, hands going down from her neck to her waist. Pulling her closer to him, he bent down and laid another kiss on her, this one shorter than before. When they break, she looks at him.

“Well, what was it that made it clear?”

“You and Ladybug don’t like coconut ice cream.”

Marinette laughed, the kind where her head went back and the sound rang out into the night. “That was my calling card?” she asks, watching at how Chat grins at her.

“There’s only one ice cream shop that serves it, and I’ve seen you turn it down over and over enough times to get the idea. When Ladybug mentioned how much she disliked coconut as well, all the clues just fit together,” Adrien says. And well, it was true. So many things over time added up against her, and finally came to a conclusion when his Lady had frowned, sticking out her tongue and declaring coconut the worst flavor in Paris.

“Well then, I guess you got lucky on that,” Marinette tells him. “A very weird thing to pick up on, but I’m not complaining.”

Hands coming up to clutch at his face and bring his lips back down to her, Marinette feels him pulling at her like he’s the moon and she’s the ocean. She feels her heart soar and fall and crashes over like waves beating at the shore, never-ending. It’s like he’s magnetic, and she’s helplessly  
attracted to him.

It’s perfect.

**_Bonus:_ **

“Wait…” Marinette says later, when they’re leaning up on one another next to the railing and watching the clouds move over the moon, “I just realized something.”

“And what is it?” Chat asks, watching her and eyes softening at just a glance her way.

“If you knew I hated coconut as me, Marinette, and you knew only one place sold it, and you said you’ve seen me turn it down over and over…” She trails off, the gears working.

Adrien gulps, already knowing where she was going. He wondered if a kiss would work again this time, or if he’d need to think of some new strategy.

“You’re Adrien!” Marinette exclaims, the last syllable not even out of her mouth before her lips get captured in another kiss.


End file.
